Eric expected to find a scene of peace and safety when they finally made their way back to the spectator’s stands on the far northern side of New Toledo. What he found instead was the ongoing fight between the Alphas and what seemed like a small army of attacking humans. The majority of the human spectators had dived out of the fighting when Libera Terra members rose out of the stands to fire at the Nexuses.
In return, the Nexuses couldn’t really fight back, because there were too many innocents in the way. Instead, Bai Xiao had created thick earthen barricades to seal off the attackers, and Kevin Williams was evacuating those in most danger with his flying powers. Shots rang out from all sorts of places in the stands, but the bullets, even those fired from those massive elephant shotguns that had done so much damage to the Nexians, simply glanced off his flesh without a sign of damage.
His bright yellow tracksuit torn to tatters, Kevin wasted no time on fighting back. That was left to Will Andrews, who flashed throughout the stands, engaging the enemies in melee combat. He had to move without his speed unless he was right next to an enemy, for the last thing he wanted to do was risk hurting or killing one of the spectators. So he used his fists and feet, fighting brutally, knocking out and disabling the enemy with terrifying efficiency.
“Get out of here!” He roared at the nearby humans, frustrated with how slowly they were clearing the stands. “Get out!”
If only it weren’t for the spectators, he thought, any one of the Alphas could put an end to this attack in minutes. But they had to fight around those who couldn’t fight. Even Michael, who knew how to fight with his bare hands from his time in the military, couldn’t keep up with him. He was bulky and heavy, and so couldn’t move with the same grace.
Eric, escorting the Air and Water Nexuses, came through the gate to the spectator’s stands, fighting his way through the swarm of humans running in the opposite direction. There were a few Libera Terra members mixed into the crowd, either moving to repositions themselves, or losing their courage at the ferocity of the situation and also fleeing for their lives. It was impossible to tell the difference between his enemies and the innocent, at least until they attacked, which they did with alarming frequency.
One of the attackers had just slipped out of the crowd holding a long knife that he thrust for Eric’s throat. He was saved only by the speed of his reflexes, stepping to the side just in time. Still, the knife scored a light wound on the right side of his neck. The human didn’t have long to celebrate the wound as Eric’s knee came up, reinforced by the speed of his lightning. It slammed into the man’s solar plexus, shattering it and sending him to the ground, gasping for air.
“Get away from the crowd!” He shouted, temporarily forgetting that he was still a new recruit. All this fighting had re-awoken his dormant leadership qualities, the mentality that had served him so well in Ahya. To his surprise, the others showed no hesitation in listening to what he said and pushed clear of the stream of humans. The Air Nexians simply vaulted into the air, carrying a few of the Water Nexians with them. Those that couldn’t get a boost fought through with their own effort.
“Watch out, Megan!” Eric shouted in warning, seeing someone follow her out, holding a gun. Megan ducked low just in time and struck her attacker with a blast of water. The enemy was sent flying back, knocking several innocent humans down as well. “Careful! We don’t want to hurt them!”
Megan let out a curse. Her grief had turned to rage by now, and she knelt down to pick the Libera Terra soldier up, pulling him free of the crowd and throwing him back to the ground. “I swear, Eric, this better not be what Grimr had in mind. These people have lives!”
“I don’t think this is his work,” Eric said shortly. The human Megan had thrown was trying to rise to his feet, but he quickly fell limp again as Eric kicked his head, knocking him out. “This isn’t his style.”
“Oh, and I suppose you’d know what his style is,” She snapped back. “We don’t even know who he is! He’s just a stranger from another world!”
Her reply shocked him, but he didn’t have any time to dwell on the matter. There was a flash of light, and James appeared out of nowhere sliding to a halt beside him. He met Eric’s eyes for a moment, frowning in confusion. “What are you two talking about?”
Eric felt his stomach leap at his captain’s sudden appearance, and his throat seemed to close up in fear. Really? Of all the times that their mission could have been revealed, it had to be when they were surrounded by enemies on all sides. “Err, I’m not sure what you-”
He heard the sound of the gunshot and spun around, instinctively activating his speed. The world seemed to slow down around him, and he caught sight of the bullets flying directly at him, Megan, and James. He ducked low, narrowly avoiding one that would have struck him in the torso, then dove to the right, trying to avoid yet another. He felt a piercing pain in his right leg as one of them struck, but then he was clear of the stream, tackling Megan to the ground.
James pivoted just as quickly as he had, and avoided getting shot completely. He fired a quick bolt of lightning that took down the gunman and destroyed his weapon, then turned to glare down at the two new Nexians. They could read the emotions on his face clearly and knew he was struggling between questioning them further and putting an end to the fight.
“This isn’t over,” he said coldly. “Once we’re done here, you’re telling me what you’re hiding.”
He reinforced the threat with a cold glare, then darted away, running up into the stands to assist his Alpha. Slowly, Eric pushed himself off of Megan and clambered back to his feet. “See, Megan? We don’t belong here. We’ve always been outsiders, and our real home is back in Ahya.”
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He held out a hand to pull her up, but she refused the offer, getting up on her own. She wondered when he’d decided that he no longer belonged to the world on which he’d been born. Probably around the time Emily had been born, she thought. Or maybe when he met Emma. But she couldn’t agree with him, though she wouldn’t say the words aloud. She still considered herself to be of Earth. Sure, there was a lot about Ahya that she loved, but she couldn’t see herself as an Ahyan.
As the stands became more empty, Will and James began moving more quickly, using their speed to attack and take down even more opponents. They moved so quickly that the entire spectator’s area glowed with an eerie blue light from their lightning. Libera Terra was starting to realize that they were losing the fight, and more and more of them were starting to run for the exits, only to find their escape blocked by more Nexians.
“Out of the way, you freaks!” A human with a large rifle screamed, pointing the gun at Eric as he stepped deliberately into his path. “We know your weaknesses now, you monsters! It’s only a matter of time before we kill you all!”
“Somehow, I don’t see that happening,” Eric replied. He showed no sign of fear at the weapon being pointed at him, though his pulse was racing. Would he be fast enough to avoid the bullets at such a close range? He wasn’t sure, but he also couldn’t just step out of the way and let the man escape. His time in Issho-Ni had instilled rather strong morals in him, and he knew he couldn’t forgive these scum who would use innocent people as shields.
“You’ll all die in the end,” the gunman sneered. “You could have wiped us out easily if you just killed us with the others, but you’re too busy pretending to be good.”
“What? Kill innocent people just to put down a couple of terrorists?” Eric was stunned by the gunman’s logic and quickly grew angrier. “As if. Put that gun down now, and I’ll let you live.”
But the man’s sneer only grew wider, so that his eyes were practically slits. “Stop putting on the saint act, monster. You’re not from this world, and you gotta die.”
Eric frowned at that. How could this human know that he’d come from Ahya? But then he realized that the man wasn’t talking about that. The Nexus powers themselves had also come from another world, a place called Naturas. But that was a very well-kept secret. So how could he have known that? He saw the man’s face set with a determined look and saw the finger on the trigger beginning to tighten.
A spike of ice appeared out of nowhere, slamming into the gun and knocking its barrel aside. Another flew at his chest, piercing through his heart and dropping him to the ground. Felix again, he realized, turning to see the Water Nexian walking over. Felix glared down at the dead human, then spat to the side.
“Scum,” he snarled. “I thought we were done with the wars. What the hell makes them think they can get away with this?”
Eric could only shake his head, unable to provide an answer that would satisfy the man. It was remarkable that he could keep his head clear enough to fight, considering the loss that he’d taken. If that had been Emma or Emily who was killed, he was certain he’d go berserk and lose all sense of reason. He opened his mouth to speak, to try and fill the awkward moment with something, but nothing occurred to him.
“Eric,” a new voice broke into his thoughts, and he turned to see Grimr running through the gate. At some point in the last few minutes, the rest of the humans had finally managed to make it through the gate. Now the only people within the area were the Nexians and their enemies.
Eric, still shaking his head, took a step toward Grimr. He had to know for sure. But before he could ask the question that was burning in his head, he felt someone shove past him and charge right for Grimr. At first, he thought it was a Libera Terra member targeting what they thought was a weak child Nexian. But then he saw the short-cut blond hair and realized it was Nick.
“Nicholas,” Grimr said, turning to him. “What an-”
His voice was cut off as Nick spun in place, kicking Grimr across the face with all the force he could muster, throwing the ancient several feet to the side with an explosive blast of air. Everyone, Nexian and Libera Terra alike turned with wide eyes at this surprise attack. Even Kevin Williams shouted in shocked outrage. “Nick! What are you doing?”
Grimr rolled back to his feet at once, but Nick was already on top of him again, now slamming his fist into the smaller figure’s face, knocking him down once again. He screamed his fury as he stalked forward. “You said you wanted to avoid bloodshed! You call this a peaceful way to accomplish your mission! Ted is dead, and it’s all your fault!”
Eric, his brain finally catching up with the shock of the moment, raced forward to stop Nick’s rampage. He got no closer than a few feet, however, before Jerik leaped in front of him, one arm raised to attack, and glowing red. Even more unsettling was the cold, uncaring look in his eyes. There was no mistaking it, he thought. He was prepared to kill. Eric stopped in his tracks.
“You’re betraying us?” Eric said, his brows furrowing into a tight line. “Why?”
“I’m not the one committing treachery,” Jerik said, his voice calm but angry. “You’re the traitor, helping some person from another world to destroy the Nexuses.”
“What?” The disbelieving shout came from Kevin Williams, who seemed to forget his fight against the attacking humans. He flew over, and came to a halt, finally landing on the ground. “Nick, what is the meaning of this? They’re not from this world?”
Nick, still on the verge of giving into his rage completely, seemed to come to his senses at the sound of his Alpha’s voice so close. He shook his head slightly as if to clear it, then turned to Kevin. “Yes, Alpha. Well, only one of them isn’t from here originally, but they’re all here to-”
His voice was cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Much louder, and apparently further away than any shots they’d heard that day. Eric ducked, then looked around for the source of it. He couldn’t see any gunmen pointing a weapon at them, and there’d been no sound of a bullet ricocheting off a nearby wall or the ground. Where had that shot come from? Had anyone been hit?
“Kevin!”
“Dad!”
The two cries, coming from both Will and Kiera, rang through the air like sirens. An ice-cold knife of fear pierced Eric’s heart, and he turned as if in slow motion. The Alpha of the Air Nexus was lying on the ground, a red circle growing ever more visible in the center of his yellow tracksuit. He was also pinned down by a large net, which was currently zapping the Alpha. Will turned again, his mind instinctively tracing the invisible line to a nearby rooftop, where he saw two figures crouched, just barely visible. One of them was holding a long rifle. And as Eric watched, he saw the barrel swivel slightly and saw a flash of light as it fired.